CB Richard Ellis Ltd (CBRE) Taiwan, the local unit of a US real-estate services provider, said yesterday it struck an agreement to hire seven employees of local peer Metro Real Estate Co (恆豐置業) to strengthen its local services.
The move, the first after the Los Angeles-based company entered the local market 22 years ago, indicated continued confidence about Taiwan’s real-estate sector and corresponded with its plans to expand in the Asia-Pacific region, CBRE Taiwan said in a statement.
“We aim to take advantage of Metro’s knowledge of the local market and provide our customers with better and more convenient services,” the statement said.
Metro was founded in May 2010, but its top executives have longstanding experience in commercial property consultancy.
This quarter has seen sluggish commercial property transactions as global economic uncertainty sidelined institutional players, CBRE Taiwan said.
Demand for retail and hotel space remains solid and will boost transactions in the coming three quarters as cross-strait trade ties deepen, the property broker said, adding that the expected increases in Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan later this year will provide the catalyst.
CBRE, with 34,000 employees in more than 300 offices worldwide, sees great business potential for the Greater China region, the statement said.
This story has been updated since it was first published.